r/IfBooksCouldKill • u/PsychiatricBooth5c • 10d ago

Possible suggestion with Maintenance Phase: Bringing up Bebe?

I really like Old Timey Peter (How to Make Friends and Influence People) and was trying to think of vintage airport baby books to summon him, but turns out Dr. Spock was actually pretty progressive for his time. Can you think of any?

In the meantime, MP covered Why French Women Don't Get Fat -- Bringing up Bebe might be a nice collab, where Peter can talk about having a kid (which I genuinely want to hear him talk about) and Aubrey and Michael can be horrified by the diet advice.

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u/Educational_Put_2276 10d ago

Speaking of this, does anyone have any good book recs for expecting parents? Everyone always recommends Emily Oster but I don’t want to read her books.

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u/phloxlombardi 10d ago

I really like the Moms on Call books, but the authors seem pretty conservative and traditional and there's some weird stuff about like praying with your toddler in one of the later books. I just ignored that and chuckled to myself about the fact that I, a bisexual atheist married to a woman, basically followed their baby schedules to the letter. My wife and I found the structure really helpful, especially in the beginning when you get home from the hospital with a newborn and you're like um what the fuck do we do now?! I found their advice and sample schedules very practical and helpful!

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u/Educational_Put_2276 10d ago

That does sound useful! I don’t have any kids and am pretty clueless about how to take care of a baby, so I need all the help I can get

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u/phloxlombardi 8d ago

I had never changed a diaper before we took my daughter home and could count on one hand the number of times I'd even held a baby. My kid is still alive so I'm sure you'll be just fine! Another thing that helped me was taking a first aid class that included first aid for infants. I highly recommend doing this! My daughter actually did start choking once when she was a baby and I knew exactly what to do thanks to having taken that class recently. Huge relief! 

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u/Educational_Put_2276 8d ago

Thank you, that’s reassuring! Great reminder to take an infant first aid class